page_title: Chaplain of the United States Senate
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Chaplain of the United States Senate / History
caption_attribution_description: Samuel Provoost (1742-1815), Bishop, Episcopal Church, USA
context_page_description: The Chaplain of the United States Senate opens each session of the United States Senate with a prayer, and provides and coordinates religious programs and pastoral care support for Senators, their staffs, and their families. The Chaplain is appointed by a majority vote of the members of the Senate on a resolution nominating an individual for the position. The three most recent nominations have been submitted based on a bipartisan search committee although that procedure is not required.
  Chaplains are elected as individuals and not as representatives of any religious community, body, or organization. As of 2017, all Senate Chaplains have belonged to various denominations of Christianity, though there are no restrictions against members of any religion or faith group. Guest Chaplains, recommended by Senators to deliver the session's opening prayer in place of the Senate Chaplain, have represented "all the world's major religious faiths."
  The current Chaplain is Barry C. Black, a retired Navy Rear Admiral and former Chief of Navy Chaplains. He is the first Seventh-day Adventist and the first African-American to hold the position.
context_section_description: Shortly after the Senate first convened in April 1789 in New York City, one of its "first orders of business" was to convene a committee to recommend a Chaplain, selecting the Right Reverend Samuel Provoost, Episcopal Bishop of New York. When the Senate moved to Philadelphia the next year, the Right Reverend William White, that city's Episcopal bishop was selected. In 1800, when the Senate relocated to Washington, D.C., clergymen from various Christian denominations ("mainline Protestant denominations--usually Episcopalians or Presbyterians") continued to be selected, delivering prayers and presiding at funerals and memorial services.
  During this early period, Chaplains "typically served" for less than a year while concurrently serving in non-congressional positions.  Also, early Senate and House Chaplains, although elected separately by their respected chambers, shared Congressional responsibilities by alternating service in the House and Senate on a weekly basis, also conducting Sunday worship for the Washington, D.C. community in the House Chamber on an alternating basis. Clergymen have served in the official position of Senate Chaplain for all years since the office was created except for the brief period of 1857-1859.  In 1914, the Senate began adding the Chaplain's prayer to the Congressional Record.
  In 1970 New Jersey Senator Harrison A. Williams "reminded his colleagues of James Madison's strong objection when the post was created in 1793", and "noted the modern fulfillment of another of Madison's warnings, that there would inevitably be discrimination in the appointment of such a chaplain against the (then) smaller denominations such as Catholics and Jews." Williams pointed out "that although Catholics have for some time comprised the largest single religious affiliation in both the Senate and the population as a whole, there has been only one Roman Catholic Senate chaplain since 1793, and not a single rabbi." He noted "Only eight denominations have been represented in the office." 
  In light of this, Williams put forward Senate Resolution 90 which "resulted in the Senate's decision to appoint a new chaplain annually, rather than let the incumbent serve for life." The appointment would also "rotate among the nation's three major religious groups."  When asked by reporters about the question of Constitutionality raised by his citing Madison he replied "If this were tested, I would say that it could go either way. It could be declared unconstitutional. Any taxpayer could question this, but no one ever has." 
  He held that in places where people were isolated by acts of government, such as people in the armed services, hospitals or prisons that chaplains serving them would be Constitutional, "But, I don't know anybody less isolated than members of Congress." In following eras the courts would rule on the constitutionality of the chaplaincy.
  The Chaplain of the United States Senate became a full-time position in the middle of the 20th century.
  According to a Senate Historical Office review of the records concerning guest chaplains, it was in 1965 that James Kirkland became the first African-American to open the Senate with prayer. In 1971 Wilmina Rowland became the first woman to do so. Wallace Mohammed was the first Muslim to do so in 1992, and Rajan Zed was the first Hindu to say the opening prayer for the Senate in 2007. Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama became the first Buddhist to lead the Senate in prayer, and as of 2014 was the highest religious official to do so.
caption: The Right Reverend Samuel Provoost, first Chaplain of the United States Senate
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